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You are Invited to Two Evenings of Films - DC Area Events Focus on Overlooked Animals

March 21, 2014

Dear DC-Metro-Area Humanitarian,

We wanted to let you know about two events in our area next week that focus on animals that are often overlooked: birds and bats. Join us for a pair of film screenings and discussions that will shed light on crises facing these animals. There will even be a bat "meet and greet"!

MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2014George Washington University Law School's Student Animal Legal Defense Fund presents a screening of the PBS documentary Parrot Confidential, detailing the plight of captive birds both in the US and abroad. Stay for a post-film panel discussion with the film's director, Allison Argo, and Animal Welfare Institute Senior Policy Advisor Nancy Blaney. Free refreshments from Chipotle will be served! If you are able to attend, please RSVP to Joan Schaffner at jschaf@law.gwu.edu so she can get a head count for food. Please do not reply to AWI.

THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2014As part of the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital, the US Department of the Interior is hosting a screening of two important films about bats: The Race to Save Pennsylvania's Bats" examines the effort to save bats in Pennsylvania, where they have been particularly hard hit by white-nose syndrome. The Battle for Bats: Surviving White-Nose Syndrome looks at the devastating effects of white-nose syndrome, a mysterious fungus that was first reported in a single cave in upstate New York in 2006, after which it proceeded to kill nearly all the local bats. Since then, the deadly fungus has spread across the eastern United States to the midwestern region and into Canada, killing more than 6 million cave-hibernating bats. In many cases, mortality rates from white-nose syndrome have reached over 90 percent; even the most common and heretofore abundant bat species are in trouble. After the films, there will be a panel discussion with US Fish and Wildlife officials and others who are working to eradicate this disease. Before the film, you will have an opportunity to "meet" live bats and learn a little bit more about them.